Thinking of a Career in Medicine and Pathology, Please Look at This.

[LADoc00]

Profession with overall highest suicide rate: Medicine

No. 1 cause of death of medical students: Suicide.

Career with the highest rate of female mental illness: Medicine

Profession with the highest rate of female infertility: Medicine (25% vs. 9% in general population)

Estimated percentage of physicians in their career with significant financial problems: 25%

And yet most leading academic scholars feel: U.S. physicians are entitled, too powerful, paid too much and need to brought down a peg.

All public polling suggest the majority of Americans think physicians are paid too much.

So in closing, if you are interested in becoming infertile, insane and eventually take your own life, medicine and especially pathology is the singular best option in the United States in 2022. You will never hear the AAMC, AMA, CAP or any political party mention this because they literally do not care if you live or die, only that you serve faithfully as a cog in the machine of society.

You are an educated Greek in the Roman Empire.

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[Spikebd]

Extremely sobering.

 

[KeratinPearls]

View attachment 357811



Profession with overall highest suicide rate: Medicine

No. 1 cause of death of medical students: Suicide.

Career with the highest rate of female mental illness: Medicine

Profession with the highest rate of female infertility: Medicine (25% vs. 9% in general population)

Estimated percentage of physicians in their career with significant financial problems: 25%

And yet most leading academic scholars feel: U.S. physicians are entitled, too powerful, paid too much and need to brought down a peg.

All public polling suggest the majority of Americans think physicians are paid too much.

So in closing, if you are interested in becoming infertile, insane and eventually take your own life, medicine and especially pathology is the singular best option in the United States in 2022. You will never hear the AAMC, AMA, CAP or any political party mention this because they literally do not care if you live or die, only that you serve faithfully as a cog in the machine of society.

You are an educated Greek in the Roman Empire.

LOL, not sure why Pathology is up there. We have banker hours.

Unless you work in a high stress high volume environment with little vacation or with senior partners (or boss) who treat you like sh&t, I can see why one would commit suicide. I’ve seen some hostile work environments due to some pathologists having personality issues.

That’s why I try to tell younger people to make sure you look to train at a program with decent good friendly and most importantly NORMAL attendings. When you look for work, make sure you do the same.

Pathology attracts a lot of weird and crazy folks who you would never want to treat family members. I’ve met several during my training. I just wonder how they treat others in their current workplace?

Difficult personalities leads to issues in the workplace. I’ve even heard of places where pathologists don’t even talk to each other and use residents as a means of communication!

When you work under a malignant person in a position of power (your boss or senior partners in a group), workplace harassment can and does occur. It really can take a toll on one’s mental health. Combine that with work stress/burnout, that stuff can drive anyone over the edge.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Medicine attracts too many perfectionists and people on the autism spectrum. I'm not surprised. Medicine is no worse than other fields, it's the people going into the field.

I wonder if pathology is the top of the homicidal thought list too?

 

[Alteran]

Medicine attracts too many perfectionists and people on the autism spectrum. I'm not surprised. Medicine is no worse than other fields, it's the people going into the field.

I wonder if pathology is the top of the homicidal thought list too?

I think it is. Don't hear of this happening in other specialties that I can find in a cursory search.

Resident Kills a Medical Chief, Himself in Seattle

A resident physician who had recently been fired walked into the office of a high-ranking doctor, shot him to death and then killed himself Wednesday afternoon at the University of Washington, campus police said.

www.latimes.com

Dr. Anthony Garcia: A Doctor's Twisted Revenge Killing Spree

Dr. Anthony Garcia was motivated by revenge after being fired, say prosecutors

people.com

 

[KeratinPearls]

I think it is. Don't hear of this happening in other specialties that I can find in a cursory search.

Resident Kills a Medical Chief, Himself in Seattle

A resident physician who had recently been fired walked into the office of a high-ranking doctor, shot him to death and then killed himself Wednesday afternoon at the University of Washington, campus police said.

www.latimes.com

Dr. Anthony Garcia: A Doctor's Twisted Revenge Killing Spree

Dr. Anthony Garcia was motivated by revenge after being fired, say prosecutors

people.com

Surgery and Critical care medicine too. Look up Michael Swango and William Husel (but was found innocent by a jury).

“Despite a very poor evaluation in his dean's letter from SIU, Swango gained a surgical internship at Ohio State University Medical Center in 1983, to be followed by a residency in neurosurgery. While he worked in Rhodes Hall at OSU, nurses noticed that apparently healthy patients began dying mysteriously with alarming frequency. Each time, Swango had been the floor intern. One nurse caught him injecting some "medicine" into a patient who later became strangely ill.[2]”

Michael Swango - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

“An Ohio doctor was charged with murder Wednesday in the deaths of 25 hospitalized patients after he allegedly ordered excessive doses of painkillers to help end their lives.

William Husel, D.O., a critical care doctor, was arrested and charged with murder as authorities say he deliberately ordered overdoses of fentanyl that were given to patients at Mount Carmel and St. Ann’s hospitals in Columbus.”

A Doctor Was Accused in the Fentanyl-Related Deaths of 14 Patients. Why Did the Jury Acquit Him?

Dr. William Husel, 46, was accused of overdosing his ill patients, but a jury found him not guilty on all counts

people.com

Also, don’t forget about the rise in violence against physicians too.

AAOS Login

Boston doctor killed in hospital shooting had treated gunman's mom | CNN

A Boston doctor fatally shot Tuesday at Brigham and Women's Hospital had treated the mother of the gunman, according to a source.

www.cnn.com

Violent Patient Throws Scalding Oil on MD; Other Patient Dangers

It is rare that patients murder their doctors, but when it happens, the news tears through the whole medical community.

www.medscape.com

 

[wholeheartedly]

Hat’s the sample size and actual Ns?

Also, chicken or egg? is pathology depressing people or are ppl who are burned out on medicine gravitating toward pathology as a result?

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Should they ban pathologists and other doctors from buying AR-15s?

 

[SunBakedTrash]

Not sure about AR-15s, but I think bans on bowties and waistcoats without jackets in the pathology community need to be instituted immediately.

 

[mike-sheree]

And braces (suspenders)

 

[caffeinegirl]

Hat’s the sample size and actual Ns?

Also, chicken or egg? is pathology depressing people or are ppl who are burned out on medicine gravitating toward pathology as a result?

This is from the Medscape 2022 Physician Suicide Report - I've included screenshot of the methodology. From about 13,000 physicians surveyed, about 2% where pathologists.

 

[LADoc00]

I think pathologists are about 2% of the physician workforce.

But yah no question there is a HUGE self selection bias for medical students who choose pathology: they are inherently more introverted, suffer from more baseline mental illness and/or health issues.

Definitely dont want to claim a legitimate causation. Im just stunned at the level of dysfunction my fellow specialists have.

 

[LADoc00]

The Anthony Garcia story is a big reason why I chosen specifically not to rapidly expand my practice. This isnt just a problem in academia which often will just pass crazy through, its a problem in actual private practice now as well.

 

[wholeheartedly]

The Anthony Garcia story is a big reason why I chosen specifically not to rapidly expand my practice. This isnt just a problem in academia which often will just pass crazy through, its a problem in actual private practice now as well.

I don’t think depression is equivalent to referring to people as crazy. This perpetuates the stigma behind why people don’t seek treatment for something they could get help with.

 

[LADoc00]

I don’t think depression is equivalent to referring to people as crazy. This perpetuates the stigma behind why people don’t seek treatment for something they could get help with.

You realize regardless of how woke your language choice is, physicians with mental illness are HIGHLY STIGMATIZED by literally every element of society: patients, their colleagues, government medical board, medicolegal system etc. and that wont change by language policing.

 

[wholeheartedly]

You realize regardless of how woke your language choice is, physicians with mental illness are HIGHLY STIGMATIZED by literally every element of society: patients, their colleagues, government medical board, medicolegal system etc. and that wont change by language policing.

Dude, that is not “woke“ language. It’s been uncool to call depressed people “crazy” for decades, long before woke had any meaning beyond sleep. and yes i realize how highly stigmatized it is hence my comment. change can happen albeit slowly, and can happen by educating people small numbers at a time.

 

[wholeheartedly]

also, even though it is highly stigmatized, I don’t think any of those groups generally regard depressed people as “crazy”. weak? yes. crazy, not so much.

 

[mike-sheree]

You realize regardless of how woke your language choice is, physicians with mental illness are HIGHLY STIGMATIZED by literally every element of society: patients, their colleagues, government medical board, medicolegal system etc. and that wont change by language policing.

Of course not. It will only change when we (physicians) get off our high horse and affirmatively act to accept and help colleagues who need, want and can be helped. This is one of the reasons for the suicides and the closet alcoholics.